The Millennium Composition Recordings: Index

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If you would like to see an overview of the work please see .......between now and always: a Hampshire cantata

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First Movement: The Mists of Time

The Mists of Time is the first movement of the Millennium Composition, commissioned by Hampshire Music 2000 with funds made available by the Millennium Festival Fund. It was written for Simon Wyld, Wendy Brett and the North East Hampshire Area Schools' Band.

This short fanfare represents a washing away from present to past. At the climax of the work is a free time section. The conductor determines the start of this section by giving a down beat, after which the players improvise rhythms using given pitches. At the end of the free time section there is a violently dissonant chord, through which can be heard the wailing of a siren. At this point, members of the audience can switch on their mobile phones, pagers, in fact anything that makes a bleeping noise !
The first extract is taken from just before the free time section.

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The final section of the work is written on the natural harmonics of each instrument, and is intended to be played without valves - a washing away.
Excerpt 2 is the start of this section.

From this will evolve a melody which will wend its way through several movements of the whole composition before it becomes an anthem within the final "Hampshire Folksong Suite" that will be performed by all the different ensembles AND the audience.

This section of the work had its first performance in September 1999, at an international conference on sustainability and consumption. For further details, please see the Events Diary.

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Third Movement: The Mary Rose

Mary Rose is the third movement of the Millennium Composition, commissioned by Hampshire Music 2000 with funds made available by the Millennium Festival Fund.

Mary Rose has been designed as a complete project in that it combines elements of performance, listening and creative composition. It is recommended to be used with an age range of 8 - 14 years.

The material consists of four songs - unison or up to three parts, with piano accompaniment, together with two pictures, two photographs and a drawing - to be used as stimuli for pupils' creative projects:

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Fourth Movement: a) The Death of Colonel Boles

The Death of Colonel Boles is the fourth movement of the millennium composition
It was written for Keith Clark, Christine Stevenson and the Hampshire County Youth Choir.

The original intention was to write a work that would both stand alone as a cantata, but which could also be performed with four interludes - movements from The Civil War Suite.

Instrumentation

Colonel Boles: tenor solo & tenor drum
King Charles: trio of solo voices - soprano, alto & bass
Parliamentarian forces: SATB choir
Royalist forces: SATB choir
solo 'cello

Performance Notes

Boles should enter from the back, walking through the audience whilst playing his drum. If the work is performed in a church, he should march towards the pulpit, from where he should sing. If performed in a concert hall, he should be positioned to one side. At the end of the performance he should leave through the audience playing his drum.

The solo 'cello should be placed centre stage between the two choirs.

The first extract is of the Prologue. In the full cantata, it is followed immediately by Sir William Waller: his Jigg.

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Fourth Movement: b) The Civil War Suite

The Civil War Suite forms part of the fourth movement entitled The Death of Colonel Boles. The Millennium Composition is commissioned by Hampshire Music 2000 with funds made available by the Millennium Festival Fund. It was written for Glyn Evans and the Eastleigh Area Recorder Ensemble.

The original intention was to write a work that would both stand alone as a suite of pieces, but which could also be played as interludes in the cantata The Death of Colonel Boles, which is being written for the Hampshire Youth Choir.

The suite consists of four movements;

i) Prince Rupert's March - which sets a traditional marching tune of the day;
ii) Hopton's Dumpe;
iii) Sir William Waller: his Jigg - an imagined jigg just prior to the attack on Alton, which sets the English folksong The Two Magicians;
iv) Colonel Boles; his Pavane.

In the December 1643, the commander of the King's western army, Lord Hopton, managed to outflank the Parliamentary forces stationed at Farnham under the command of Sir William Waller. Hopton pressed on towards Sussex, leaving Crawford to hold Alton with a troop of horse, assisted by Colonel Boles with a company of infantry.

Hopton warned Lord Crawford to keep a watchful eye on the movements of Waller. This warning was lightly taken. On running short of wine Crawford asked Waller if he could send him a butt of wine in exchange for a fat ox. The wine duly arrived and Crawford promised he would deliver the ox. Waller replied that there was no need, he intended to come in person to fetch it. That night the Parliamentary commander kept his word and attacked. Crawford was nearly trapped. To prevent lines of communication being completely cut he gave the order for the cavalry to retreat, leaving Colonel Boles and his infantry to hold out.

Boles and his men fought gallantly for several hours, finally sheltering in the church itself. The door was eventually battered down and bullets swept the church as the Parliamentarians swarmed into the building. Sixty Royalists fell, the remaining twenty faltered, but Boles fought on - up the pulpit steps - striving to keep off his assailants. Finally Boles called the name of the King for whom he had given his all, as a heavy blow from the butt of a musket crashed down on his head and he fell dead in the pulpit.

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Fifth Movement: Threshing Machine

The Threshing Machine is the fifth movement of the Millennium Composition, commissioned by Hampshire Music 2000 with funds made available by the Millennium Festival Fund. It was written for Helen Dennerly and the North East Hampshire Area Percussion Ensemble.

In November 1830 Hampshire was engulfed by the wave of rural protest sweeping across southern England. There was nothing mysterious about the cause of the disturbances, they stemmed from the poverty which faced most agricultural workers in southern England. The workers sought better wages and regularity of employment as the means by which poverty and hunger could be kept at bay.

The disturbances in Hampshire began in the south-east corner of the county when labourers from west Sussex crossed into Hampshire and destroyed Threshing Machines near Fareham and Havant. Within two days disturbances were reported from all parts of the county.

In terms of recorded incidents Hampshire was the most troubled county in England, but it is evident that many events went unreported and the full extent of rural protest was far greater than is suggested by accounts in the press or cases which led to prosecutions. After a series of trials at Winchester, two prisoners were hanged, 131 transported [including John Boys, a small farmer from Owslebury who had supported the labourers] and 65 imprisoned with hard labour.

The first extract is the first few bars of the piece.

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The final section of Threshing Machine quotes the first few lines of the Hampshire folksong The Owslebury Lads:

The thirtieth of November, eighteen hundred and thirty,
The Owslebury lads they did prepare all for the machinery.
And when they did get there, my eye ! how they did let fly,
The machinery flew to pieces in the twinkling of an eye.

My thanks to the Hampshire Record Office, John Owen Smith, the Rural Life Museum at Tilford, David Butler, Roy Brigden of the Museum of English Rural Life at Reading, and Thomas Hardy [Tess of the d'Urbervilles] for helping me research the Threshing Machine.

Performance Note: there are three sections in Threshing Machine for improvised solos:
i) bars 23 to 26 - bongos;
ii) bars 34 to 37 - congas, both of which should be repeated a number of times; &
iii) bars 39 to 42 - duet.
In the these sections - particularly bars 34 to 37, the soloist(s) should take on the role of farm labourer, in trying to destroy the rhythm of the machine. Each solo should be wilder than the previous one.

The second extract is the last few bars.

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Fifth Movement: Twyford Down

Twyford Down is the fifth movement of the Millennium Composition, commissioned by Hampshire Music 2000 with funds made available by the Millennium Festival Fund. It was written for the Eastleigh, Romsey and Winchester Area Young String Ensembles.

Twyford Down was a beautiful area of high ground lying South East of Winchester, rich in historical features such as the site of an Iron Age village, pre-Roman field systems, and ancient trackways known as the Dongas. More recently it was valuable as a habitat for rare species of butterfly. It is now a road - part of the M3. Extract I: as the piece begins, we imagine Twyford Down asleep. Slowly, it wakes up.

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As Twyford Down wakes up , it remembers the worst moments in its life - machines marching towards it, traffic rushing along its length - and as it remembers, it starts to sing a lament before returning to its long sleep. Twyford Down was the result of a workshop that took place at Thornden School, Chandlers Ford on Monday 11 October, 1999. Whilst Twyford Down is conceived to be performed with the full orchestration, it can be played with a minimum orchestration of Violin 1, Violin 2, Violin 3 or Viola & Cello 1.

If you wish to, you may listen to the whole piece.

My thanks to Carl for making it possible, and to Gideon, David and Natalie for offering suggestions and taking time to check through my drafts.
Excerpt 2 is the start of this section.

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Sixth Movement: ...go mad in a quiet way

….go mad in a quiet way is a movement of the Millennium Composition, commissioned by Hampshire Music 2000 with funds made available by the Millennium Festival Fund. It was written for Phil Nash and the Hampshire Youth Jazz Orchestra.

One of the oddest epitaphs of modern times is in Bitterne churchyard, resting place of a West Indian jazz saxophonist who died in the city. At the top of the headstone are the words: JOE HARRIOTT ALTO-SAXOPHONIST 1928-1973.

But those at the base of the stone puzzle the non-aficionado. They read Parker ? There’s them over here can play a few aces too….. Parker refers to Charlie Parker, perhaps the greatest alto-saxophonist in jazz, and the inference in the quotation is that there are talented jazz players in this country as well as America. In the 1960’s, Joe Harriott was one of the first exponents of free form jazz.

If Harriott was asked what exactly free form jazz was, he would reply .…..go mad in a quiet way.

This is the start of the piece, and it begins with the same sound world - as well as some of the same material, as The Mists of Time.

The start of the main section of the piece tries to get an irregular rhythm - repeating bars of 3/4 3/4 & 4/4, to sound regular !

Excerpt 3: after the solo section the whole band plays a few bars of 3/4 together before the piece floats of into the stars - and other pretentious bollox.

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The Mists of Time  Extract 1 - Fanfare

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The Mists of Time  Extract 2 - A washing away

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The Mary Rose: Extract 1 'The Ballad of the Mary Rose'

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The Mary Rose: Extract 2 'The Cabin Boy's song'

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The Mary Rose: Extract 3 'Seven Fathoms Deep'

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The Mary Rose: Extract 4 'Mary's Lament'

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Dramatic cantata: 'The Death of Colonel Boles'    'Prologue'

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Dramatic cantata: 'The Death of Colonel Boles'    Part III The Battle of Alton

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Dramatic cantata: 'The Death of Colonel Boles'    Part V St. Lawrence Church

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Dramatic cantata: 'The Death of Colonel Boles'    Part VII Bring me a mourning scarf

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Dramatic cantata: 'The Death of Colonel Boles'    Epilogue

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The Civil War Suite  Prince Rupert's March - Extract 1

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The Civil War Suite  Hopton's Dumpe -Extract 2

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The Civil War Suite  Sir William Waller: his Jigg - Extract 3

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The Civil War Suite  Colonel Boles: his Pavane -Extract 4

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Threshing Machine  Extract 1

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Threshing Machine  Extract 2

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Twyford Down  Opening - Extract 1

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Twyford Down  Machines - Extract 2

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Twyford Down  Complete

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... go mad in a quiet way  Extract 1

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... go mad in a quiet way  Extract 2

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... go mad in a quiet way  Extract 3

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Grand Finale - Hampshire Folksong Suite   On the steps of the Butter Cross.

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